Comcast now offering 50 Mbps service in the Bay Area

The cable provider is expanding its rollout of the new DOCSIS 3.0 technology, which will provide customers with speeds up to 50 megabits per second for downloads and up to 10 megabits per second for uploads.

The rollout here, which begins today for residential homes, will be phased in with San Jose and Silicon Valley, much of Contra Costa County and the Tri-Valley, and the Monterey area getting the higher speeds first. Business customers will have to wait a week for the faster speeds. Other parts of the Bay Area can expect to get 50 mbps service later this year. (See below for more specific city information.)

With 50 megabit per second service, customers can download a high-definition movie in 16 minutes or a standard definition movie in about 5 minutes. Comcast officials said the increased speeds can also prompt new Internet innovation and new usage models by users.

“Consumers have an unquenchable thirst for entertainment, communications and information and wideband will super-charge their Internet experience by providing even faster access to anything they want online,” said Bryan Byrd, director of communications for Comcast California “This is only a preview of even faster speeds to come – DOCSIS 3.0 gives Comcast the capability to deliver speeds in excess of 150 Mbps in the future.”

Comcast’s upgraded service adds two new tiers of speed for users.

*Extreme 50 – will offer 50 mbps down and 10 mbps up and will come priced at $139.95. You can order this standalone without paying for a second service.

*Ultra – will provide 22 mbps down and 5 mbps up for $62.95 a month when bundled with a second service. For standalone service, it’s $78.95/month.

Comcast is also providing more speed to its existing tiers.

*Performance Plus – 16 mbps down/2mbps up for $68.95/month standalone and $52.95/month when bundled with another service.

*Performance – 12 mbps down/ 2 mbps up for $58.95/month standalone and $42.95/month when bundled with another service.

Comcast started rolling out DOCSIS 3.0 last year and now has 30 percent of its footprint upgraded to 50 mbps service. The company plans to have 30 million homes and businesses, or 65 percent of its footprint covered this year.

Here’s a more complete list of cities and communities that will get the faster speeds starting today: